#TakeAKnee

It all began in the NFL’s 2016 pre-season. At the playing of the National Anthem, Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, decided to kneel, rather than stand facing the flag and put his right hand upon his heart (I wrote about this then, The Kaepernick Kerfuffle). He would later explain: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” No one suggested that he had other motives than what he claimed. However, many (white?) Americans were very upset, and they charged that his action showed disrespect of our flag. But ALL protests, large and small, show disrespect for authority and its symbols, often breaking the law. Else they are not protests. They also claimed that his action was un-American – as though America, more than any country in world history, is not built upon a solid foundation of protest. The American Revolution was its first protest, a huge protest, and its participants were all guilty of treason against their government, Great Britain and the King. And these patriotic Americans wanted to punish Kaepernick.

At the time, there were no laws against dishonoring the flag when the Anthem is playing (indeed, court cases have established the absolute legality of such actions). And neither the NFL nor its member teams had any regulations in place for how they would handle such actions.

But what with all the fuss that some Americans made, the president weighed in. team owners weighed in, and finally the NFL did so too.

So, what to do? Initially, I thought to record the history of kneeling. But that would make my essay 5 times as long as I really want, and it would obscure my thinking about it. So, I discarded that idea. Instead, I will look at the actors on this stage and comment on their actions, real and imaginary.

Kneelers: Kaepernick was the first “kneeler” (actually, protests [against racial injustice, in professional sports] go way back), but a few other players who agreed with his reasoning soon followed his lead. What he did was clearly not against the law, nor did it breach league or club rules. But many found it disrespectful, to the flag, to the country. My take: the protests are and were legal. But people love to take sides, and their positions invariably reflect how they feel about the issue being protested (racial injustice, in this case). I am always on the side of protesters as they are acting within the law, all the while some Americans seem to want them to be punished anyway, for behaving in a way that they don't approve, a common American idiosyncrasy.

Team Owners: In our market capitalism, owners can do what they please, like penalize kneeling, as they are not constrained in the same way as the government is (because government may not restrict speech or expression). True to form, they have acted to punish players who kneel. For my part, were I a player, I would say to my team-mates: “This is no longer about racial injustice against other Americans; now the owners are exercising their power over US. They have enough power, are we going to stand for this? We should all kneel, in protest against being treated like children with no rights.”

The NFL: The NFL leadership is brainless. When they stepped into the fray, they exerted their control over team owners. For my part, were I a team owner, I would say to my fellow-owners: “This is no longer about our players’ kneeling, this is about team owners being told what to do. They have enough power, are we going to stand for this? We should all tell our players to kneel or not as they please; we have their back.”

The President: Citizen Trump, once again demonstrating that he has not read or understood the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, has suggested that players who kneel should be suspended or fired or even exiled from the United States. He claims to have the right to make these comments as he is a plain citizen who has the right to free speech (what an irony, calling to punish others for exercising those same rights). However, the President is an arm of the law and may not speak as though what he wants is above the law, as though what he wants IS the law. The NFL should “protest” the president’s interference, team owners should “protest” the president’s interference, players should “protest” the president’s interference, and the people should reflect for a moment or two about how our president seems to react to every little thing, as though they were personal affronts, as though he should have control over everything, as though he has earned the honorific Il Duce.

Fans and others: Americans have to stop thinking that because they don’t agree with someone else’s views that they ought to be punished or imprisoned (“lock her up”) for it. We all need to remember that we are Americans and that our noblest character trait is our tolerance for speech that we detest (Jewish lawyers at the ACLU defended neo-Nazis’ Constitutional right to their hateful speech, fgodsake!). In other words, you should support every American who stands up to protest, as they are showing courage, even if you don’t like what they are protesting about. Be careful about knee-jerk responses: they show us at our worst!

Most recently, the NFL has contributed its 2¢ worth and a team’s new anthem policy has been leaked; the surprising consequence? Backlash. Now the league and the team owners are paying the price for not doing the right thing.